From a New View
by Sejuani-Weaver
Summary: The more time and energy Kurapika invests working towards his revenge, the more Leorio feels farther away from him. Leorio hopes to at least go back to the good old days of constant bickering and pooly veiled concerns. If only he could get Kurapika to chill. Kurapika/Leorio Set in the Hunter Universe where Leorio is a Forensic Autopsy Technician and Kurapika is a Detective.


Age five was the first time Leorio ever held a pencil. His chubby fingers clutched the middle of the device, shakily drawing him and his mother. The graphite pushed harsh on the thin paper, Leorio would furrow his brows in concentration, trying to draw him holding his favorite food. Toast with raspberry jam when they were lucky enough to afford it. His mom would hang his pictures near the stone next to Leorio's bedroom, her weary eyes beaming for a quick second. Leorio decided at that point, that he would like to be an artist.

Age ten was the first goal he ever made in the sorry makeshift football field that resided next to his nearly dilapidated school. The dried yellow grass and harsh rocky terrain often left him with bloodied knees and shirts stained with the dust of the ground he played on. The cloth on his shoes thinned out, while little holes formed from over use. Some kids would make fun of him, most were in very similar, if not worse, situations.

One day he kicked the ball so hard that he fell over, hard enough that not even the strongest and fastest boy in his class, Yeurik, could block it. He remembered being carried by his teammates, rejoicing in his sort-lived fame. Even the prettiest girl in his grade Zelina, had taken a liking to him. They dated for a total of eleven days, until Zelina eventually left him for another kid with better snacks to share.

Leorio realized that he liked girls, and popularity, and attention. He decided, at ten, he would become a world famous soccer player.

At fifteen Leorio saw his best friend die right before his eyes.

Violence rose and supplies diminished, leaving his village poorer and more dangerous than it's ever been. He and Pietro made sure to carry pocket knives concealed in their front pockets, feeling the weight of the sharp blade kept safely hidden from public view.

He had plans to travel the world with Pietro. One day he'd live his dream of leaving this wretched town. Leorio ached for a world where he didn't have to worry whether he'd survive another day. Fortunately, Leorio was blessed with tall legs, broad shoulders, and sharp features, accompanied with an over sized spring coat to make him look a lot bigger than he actually was. It would deter most men from approaching him, and for the ones that did approach him —he was never one to back down from a fight.

Leorio would come home with more than just a bloodied knee. His mom would agonize and fret over his scrapes wounds, using cheap homemade antiseptic on his particularly bad wounds. Her frowns and worry lines making her years older than she appeared. She worried about him every night, wondering whether she'd wake up to a dead son. Only one of many young men in her village taken unfairly, and far too early.

Leorio often wondered how he would die. He was always the fighter, always the one who would never back out from a challenge, no matter how stupid or dangerous, or not worth it. Pietro was the pacifist, the clever one, the one who was smart enough to come unscathed due to knowing all of the nooks and crannies of the village where even thieves wouldn't dare to look at.

He didn't think much when Pietro began coughing. Seasonal colds came and went. He didn't even do so much as blink when that cold turned into fever. Fevers happened. It was never any concern to go to a hospital when all one needed to do was wait for it to break. Besides, the hospital was four miles out and quite expensive for a perspiration of bed rest and a few cups of tea. He remembered walking with Pietro to the nearest store for remedial herbs, half dragging Pietro, watching his friend clutch his heart with a shaky breath, not knowing it would be his last.

Leorio locked himself in his room for a week after that, missing Pietro's impromptu burial. He heard his mom and Pietro's relatives mumble on and on about pneumonia. How it was so soon, so fast, so _preventable._ If only they had the money for just a small container of antibiotics, maybe they would've left the village by now, traveling to a place where money and social status and violence was not their biggest issue. Instead his friend was buried in a dug up grave next to an unmarked area. Pietro's family not being able to afford a proper burial, worried that his body would decompose and rot early due to the summer heat.

He often dreamt of Pietro's face, his bright eyes, always searching, reaching for something he now could never obtain. He dreamt of Pietro's bloated and rotting corpse. A plethora of wriggling maggots eating into his eye sockets and crawling out of his mouth. His tongue long gone.

Sometimes he'd dream of Pietro waking him up, asking to go get breakfast at his favorite street cart. He liked those dreams the best. He'd wake up out of breath with a slight ache in his heart that only had room to be filled with regret and the feeling of loss.

At age 15. Approximately three months after Pietro's death, Leorio decided he would become a doctor.

"Paladiknight!" Cheadle shouted, calling the attention of the much taller male.

Leorio sat straight up from his originally rested position on the staff couch. On his downtime he liked sleeping. Unfortunately, this job didn't allow for much downtime.

"We have another one in room four." Her face was grim, her snout in a half snarl that was only saved for times of distress or when she had the unfortunate luck of interacting Pariston.

"Another one?" Leorio looked at her in disbelief as he made his way to the lab coat thrown haphazardly on the employee snack table. "How bad is it this time?"

"The body is at least intact." She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her snout in irritation. "Meet me in room 4 in ten." Cheadle made a sharp beeline towards the end of the exit before adding, "and bring the strongest coffee you have."

Leorio threw on his dirty labcoat, making a note to wash it once he got back to his pad.

Originally, becoming a forensic autopsy technician was not apart of his life goal. His charm, wit, and passion were supposed to be used around the living. After all, one couldn't really tell jokes around a cadaver. However, life had a funny way of giving and taking opportunities, and although the initial plan was to become a doctor, working under the nose of Cheadle Yorkshire was something he knew would be foolish to pass up.

After participating in the hunter exams, and miraculously making it out alive (with a badge to boot), Leorio decided this would be enough to pay his way through medical school and fulfill his "work hard get moderately rich" scheme. What he didn't anticipate was him stepping into the world of nen, and discovering the terrifying and unbelievable power it had over mundane human life.

Before nen, advanced medical technology used to fascinate him. The ability to tear a person open and stitch them back up, only to have them be fine in the morning was already an incredible feat. Vaccines, antibiotics, simple powdered pills were be able to cure diseases that meant death for a person that lived a couple of decades ago. Knowledge and chemistry, and the passion for life and hard work made longevity possible.

All that inspiration died down in the recesses of his mind shortly after the hunter exam.

Although the respect of the trade was still there, Leorio realized that there were people out there who can surgically stitch themselves back up using only nen. There were hunters out there who were able to heal a snapped bone into place in just mere seconds. Hunters who purposely detached their limbs to make themselves stronger.

And there sat Leorio. Basically living in the medical section of the public library, reading up on how dehydration can affect the body.

Leorio knew he could do better, that he could do _more_ with what he knew.

And that's where Cheadle came in.

Cheadle was a genius. With extensive knowledge on both medical science and law, she was evidently the most qualified to lead the medical division of the hunter association. With so much on her plate already, she was not prepared to handle the responsibilities of being the next chairman as well.

Needless to say, saying Cheadle was stressed was an understatement. She was straight up burned out.

In the entire universe, only a very small handful of people had the skills, expertise, courage, and drive to become a professional hunter. Disregarding the professionals, only a couple more thousands knew of nen.

In the time span that Pariston came into office, the number of deaths in the association tripled, as Cheadle's patience shortened. The death of a professional hunter made rounds quickly within the community, causing more time, more problems, and far too much paperwork for Cheadle.

Body after body rolled into her already small hospital, while news of the deceased sprung angry questions and fear mongering among nen-users. Were these murders tied to anything? Was it towards a specific nen type or profession? Who should they look out for?

Bottom line was, Cheadle didn't really give a shit at the moment. Her medical team was far too small, and her patience far too gone to even think about the countless other things she had on her plate.

First thing's first. She needed a group dedicated to solving these crimes. Thankfully, shed have Mizaistom deal with that nonsense. Secondly, her medical staff was far too small. She had a total of 10 professional nen users on her team, five who were constantly out in other areas that needed aid. Three were nen-less and stayed within arms reach of the hunter association, since it happened to be the most secure place for a human.

And that's where Leorio came in.

Somewhere along the lines, their paths crossed. Word of mouth came around with information in an emitter, a professional hunter no less, creating a hatsu used to locate tumors and remove them using nen. Ingenious, Cheadle thought. Ingenious, yet useless in what she was looking for at the moment.

But Leorio had basic understanding of nen and medicine, and that combination was lucky enough to acquire him a spot on her team.

Six months after Leorio perfected his hatsu, he was air shipped out to Swaldani City, the sprawling metropolis in which the hunters association headquarters was located.

Leorio remembered being agitated over the fact that his new job required him to deal with the opposite of what he wanted to do. He spent a good six years learning how to save lives only to examine dead bodies. But Cheadle needed a nen user, someone who knew about it's power, someone with the ability to use gyo. Most importantly, someone who knew the functions and the ins and outs of a human body as well as herself.

That is why Leorio currently stood over a very dead body with Cheadle right by his side.

"Baise, female, 23, height 5'4'." Cheadle read the rest of her file from her clipboard, flipping through the pages to see there was anything important she missed.

The first thing Leorio noticed was the blunt trauma on the back of Baise's head. Her long dark pink hair spread carelessly along her otherwise unmarked corpse. No other trauma or lacerations. The second thing he noticed was how emaciated she looked. Cheadle removed the tarp to reveal her the curves of her sharp hip and collar bones. Her neck was strained and her cheeks sunken. Besides the fact that she looked like she was in the process of being sucked dry from a man sized mosquito, she would have been quite beautiful otherwise.

"Do you happen to know her nen type?"

"Her file says manipulator. She was famous for her instant kiss."

Leorio raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"By kissing a person, she was able to make them her personal slave for an allotted time."

"That's pretty genius. It'd be nice having your own personal lapdog."

Cheadle wrinkled her snout at the comment, glaring and Leorio for a brief second as he muttered a short apology.

Leorio cleared his throat. "She looks skeletal, like her body was somehow drained of all the blood."

"That's precisely what is was," a voice came from the entrance of the room. "The attacker has the ability to conjure up an item that has the ability to drain blood from it's victim. It's a unique skill that allows the assailant to delete all traces of activity. Fortunately, we were able to retrieve Blaise's body before she ran off with it. Unfortunately, we were too late on her account."

"Kurapika, the next time you walk into one my autopsies, I swear I'm either going to strangle you or hire you."

The blonde joined the room, his gray eyes staring emotionless at the body on the examining table. Kurapika Kurta turned 26 this year, although his blonde hair and youthful round face made it seem otherwise. He spent his birthday taking a well deserved break from his position as the hunter associations top detective , taking time to stop at the local farmers market to cook himself one of his favorite traditional meals from his childhood. At the end of his meal, he walked to the flower shop where he proceeded to buy a small fortune on white stargazer lilies, which he placed gingerly next to the infinite amounts of scarlet eyes laid neatly across the faux ivory cabinet he purchased from a nearby flea market. He glared at the bobbing scarlet eyes for the remainder of his birthday, watching them greet him lifelessly.

Needless to say, Kurapika had some underlying issues that definitely needed to come into light with an extensive amount of therapy.

Kurapika was almost an instant hire for the position as top detective for the hunter association. Mizaistom was impressed by Kurapika's ability to track down the notorious phantom troupe. Kurapika's notoriety only spread further as he managed to split up the troupe, killing Uvogin, possibly the strongest member of the phantom troupe when it came to brute physical strength.

How his 5'7', 130 pound frame did that, Mizaistrom did not know, nor did he ask, all he knew was Kurapika was in another league of his own. Not only did the Kurta have a keen eye for detail and the ruthlessness of a seasoned fighter, he had one of the strongest sense of moral justice Mizaistom had ever seen. His motivation to track down the phantom troupe had become so obsessive to the point of being unhealthy. But the hunter association often did not have any qualms hiring people of deteriorating mental states as long as they got the job done.

As long as Mizaistrom could throw small cases and Kurapika from time to time, he didn't care much either. Although the cow hatted man still kept a fair distance away from the blonde nen-user every time he caught a flicker of red in Kurapika's eyes.

Kurapika seemed to break out of his fugue state smiled at Cheadle apologetically. "I wanted to save you some time on your investigation."

"Thanks for that, but it would be more help to just not have them die." She took a huge gulp of her grande espresso. Her ears perked up as she finished the cup, feeling a little better about the paper work she'd spend all her time filling out tonight.

"Leorio and I will take care of Blaise, you can do whatever you need to do for the rest of the time being," Kurapika said. He'd have to make some phone calls to any of her existing relatives, and make preparations for her body, but he was often desensitized over those types of thing, so it made it easier for everyone around him as he took most of the emotional outbursts of the deceased family.

"When did you suddenly become my boss?" Leorio glared at his blonde friend, knowing full well we would've stayed anyways.

"Whatever, I'm going to take a 40 minute dog nap and see how my brain feels from there. Paladiknight, Kurta, I leave the rest to you." Cheadle walked out of the examination room, cursing herself for drinking four shots of espresso for a two minute autopsy.

Once Cheadle was out of the room Kurapika turned to his much taller friend. "Your birthday just past right?"

"That was over a month ago."

"Give me thirty minutes to make some phone calls and we can head out." And with that, Kurapika turned his heel and headed for Cheadle's office.

"Do you even bother to listen to anything I say!," Leorio shouted into the hallway.

"Whenever you have anything interesting to mention," the Kurta answered back.

"I'm gonna be sleeping on the couch, wake me up when you decide to stop being an asshole!," he called out. Kurapika gave him a silent thumbs up before disappearing into the next hallway.

The first time Leorio met Kurapika, he straight up wanted to knock the teeth right out of that self righteous apperance. Kurapika, at first glance, was everything he hated in a person. He was a haughty, egotistical, and had an air of entitlement Leorio only saw in the rich parts of town. From his spotless and professional appearance to his bored expression, he knew Kurapika probably never struggled a day in his life.

His initial interaction with Kurapika kept a negative view of his blonde coworker for almost three months, not really knowing Kurapikas role or wanting to know anything about him in general. It wasn't until Leorio had to actually take care of the prick that led to Leorio eventually being kind of ok with him.

He remembered Kurapika being rolled into Cheadle's emergency room, unconscious and weak. Cheadle's whole medical team was shipped to NGL to assist some type of ant infestation. He really didn't understand half of it, nor did he want to, all he knew was that he was the only one in the building taking phone calls and doing runt work while Cheadle was saving a giant ant's life.

"One second he was standing, and the next, he just collapsed," a man with a set of very strong eyebrows said.

"Zephile and I were assisting Kurapika. He found a lead on the phantom troupe and ran away to capture them on his own. He looked a little weak when I saw him, but after a couple of minutes walking, he passed out," a very short hobbit like woman said.

"O-ok, why don't you two sit down there, he seems ok, his vitals are alright, he has a fever but it just seems like the basic symptoms of exhaustion," Leorio said, checking Kurapika's temperature.

Leorio realized, after a couple of moments, that Kurapika was his first ever patient.

After calming his friends down and waiting for Kurapika's fever to break, he joined Senritsu and Zephile for a cup of tea while they waited for their friend to wake up. Leorio, being a charismatic and all around people person entertained Kurapika's friends, getting to know the pair a little better.

"I'm training to be a hunter," Zephile mentioned as he gingerly picked up his china and carefully blew on his jasmine tea.

"I got my license a year ago as a music hunter," Melody quipped in.

"Huh, so what do you do with that?"

"I'm an emitter, I can change a person's emotional state through music." She patted the flute case that sat close to her. "I also have supernatural hearing."

"I can see that being annoying."

"It can be sometimes, but certain noises sound nice, for example." She closed her eyes and concentrated, moving her finger in a light swinging motion. "Your heart is one of the warmest I've ever listened to. I heard the spike of worry when we came in, even your anxiety has a feeling of compassion linked to it." She smiled and continued listening.

Leorio felt his face turn pink.

"Kurapika's heart is loud and thunderous. It's emotional and powerful, but it can be jarring at times," she mused, enjoying the difference in pace.

"Do you even enjoy working with him, he doesn't really seem like the most talkative person."

"He can be aloof at times, but he's more kind and caring than he lets on. I can tell that his heart is in the right place, although his motivations aren't."

"What does he do anyways," Leorio asked, while he was chewing mid- biscuit.

Zephile and Melody turned to each other, and turned to Leorio.

"I guess he doesn't have world wide recognition, but he definitely has a name for himself within the people who work for the association," Zephile stated.

And that's how Leorio came to learn about Kurapika's history He realized that maybe this guy really wasn't that much of an asshole, but instead extremely jaded and awkward, since everything he loved and cared about perished before the age of fourteen, forcing him to focus all of his energy on revenge instead of regular healthy human interaction.

As a person who had to grow up far faster than most kids his age, Leorio didn't have the heart to feel ill- will towards someone who suffered something similar.

His hate dissipated pretty quickly after that, and after a couple awkward interactions and encounters, Leorio found that he enjoyed spending time with the blonde chain user. After Killua and Gon were recruited into the team, it only made their friendship stronger as Gon had a way of pushing people together and forcing them to interact.

"Hey." Kurapika ripped the blanket off of Leorio's poor body. Leorio sat up and groggily checked his watch.

"Thirty minutes huh?" Leorio checked his watched and indeed, five hours have past. "You seem to be good with time.

"Can it, I was the one who had to make all those phone calls. Blaise forgot to mention she ad a total of 74 jilted lovers."

"It's 9 in the morning, you sure you don't want to reschedule?"

"I had a fifteen minute nap in Cheadle's office, I'm good to go."

"I'm not taking care of your ass if you pass out on me. You seem to have a habit of pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion."

Kurapika rolled his eyes and grabbed his coat. "I'm going to breakfast with or without you."

With that, Leorio followed him outside.

"How are Gon and Killua doing?," Leorio asked as he shoved a forkful of the roe of fresh purple sea water bass into his awaiting mouth.

"Field training with Bisky, their doing well, as always. I haven't been on any real cases with them yet," Kurapika replied, taking a bite of his modest omelet. He raised an eyebrow at Leorios dish. "Do you always expensive fish roe for breakfast."

"Only when you're paying, and only when it's my belated birthday." He took shoved a large piece of fish in his mouth to make a point. "Plus, it's the least you could do for ignoring my calls. Mizaistrom mentioned you came back four days ago."

"Sorry about that, I took a personal day off."

"That makes sense, you were gone for a while."

For Leorio, hanging with Kurapika was almost as rare as having a proper sleep schedule. Since there were huge time lapses in their communication, Leorio would like to think that there would be a lot to talk about, but more than often, Kurapika wouldn't say too much.

"When is your birthday anyways?"

"It passed, last April."

"It's April 8."

"Yes."

"Kurapika why didn't you tell me your birthday was a couple of days ago?"

"I didn't feel like it was that important." Kurapika shrugged. Leorio realized Kurapika liked to shrug to avoid questions.

"I've been friends with you for almost a year. Sometimes, I even consider you a close friend when you aren't getting on my nerves. I just feel like its a social thing to mention birthdays, specially in polite conversation."

"I have no need for polite conversation."

"That explains why you kept me around," Leorio grinned. He'd rather have an honest Kurapika rather than a polite one. "Well, did you do anything interesting."

Kurapika thought back to four days ago, thinking of the hours he spent obsessing over the number of eyes he had yet to collect.

"Nothing in particular."

Kurapika was shrugging again. Leorio knew to drop it.

The rest of breakfast went along uneventfully with some small talk here and there. Leorio knew better than to mention Kurapika's latest case, and his lack of success in securing a troupe members death.

"You look tired." Leorio mentioned offhandedly. Every meeting he seemed to have with Kurapika made the chain user look worse for the wear. Although Kurapika still kept his prim and proper appearance, they couldn't hide the gaping at the collar and the bags that were beginning to form under his eyes.

"I was on the phone with 74 different men for a good 5 hours. One man cried for a whole thirty minutes Leorio."

"That's not what I —,"

" _Thirty minutes."_

"Ok, ok I get it. Just take care of yourself ok. I worry sometimes. All the time actually. Pretty much about everything."

Kurapika sighed, a look of remorse etched across his face. "I'll get this whole communication thing right eventually."

"I'd like that." Leorio smiled at his friend. "But don't get too good at it, I can only handle so much of you in one month."

Kurapika's lips curled up into a smile. His expression fatigued, but he was genuinely smiling nonetheless.

Leorio felt his heart speed up a little into his throat. He looked away and blamed it on all the caffeine he'd been drinking this past week.

He made a note to cut back once life allowed him to.

 **(A/N: Thank you for reading! xo)**


End file.
